VANCOUVER– Rasmus Dahlin scored for a fifth straight game and also had an assist for the Buffalo Sabers, who spoiled the Vancouver Canucks’ home opener with a 5-1 victory at Rogers Arena on Saturday.
Victor Olofsson scored two goals and an assist, Alex Tuch and Zemgus Girgensons marked, and Craig Anderson made 29 saves for the Sabers (4-1-0), who won the first three games of a four-game road trip that ends at the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.
“I think it starts with hard work, and we really deserve this confidence that we have right now,” Dahlin said. “We play away games, but we’re playing them really, really well and we’re really starting to find our game. So yeah, our confidence level is high right now.”
Video: BUF@VAN: Dahlin scores his 5th goal in 5 games
Conor Garland marked, and Thatcher Demko made 22 saves for the Canucks (0-4-2), who remain the only NHL team without a win and failed for the sixth consecutive time to give coach Bruce Boudreau his 600th NHL victory.
“My job is to help us find a way out of this,” Boudreau said. “So I’ll do whatever I can to see what I can do to straighten this thing out. Their job should be, individually, ‘What can I do to straighten this thing out?’ That’s how I would feel if they booed us off the ice like that. Hope our pride shows.
Dahlin gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 5:35 of the first period with a point shot that deflected a masked Demko on the power play. Dahlin was already the first defenseman in NHL history to score in the first four games of a season and is now the first defenseman in Sabers history to score a goal in five consecutive games.
“I’m not trying to think about it,” Dahlin said. “I was in [the defensive] for 80% of this game, but when situations arise, I try to score, so it feels good when the puck comes in. »
Dahlin may play down his scoring streak, but it left a strong impression on the rest of the Sabers.
“He makes pieces that remind me of when Erik Karlsson was at the top of his game,” Anderson said. “He was doing things with the puck that you wouldn’t expect him to do because he had that confidence, and [Dahlin] is there in his own game. I don’t compare him to Erik, but I compare him to that confidence, that swagger with the puck that he has to be able to make those plays. He’s just playing loose and letting his skills and abilities take over right now.”
Tuch, who protected Demko on Dahlin’s goal, made it 2-0 at 15:18. Jeff Skinner forced a turnover in the slot that left Tuch behind the Vancouver defense for a spinning shot under Demko’s blocker.
Video: BUF@VAN: Tuch doubles the lead with a sixth goal
Tuch has scored in four consecutive games, including a hat trick in a 6-3 win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday, tying the longest streak of his NHL career.
Garland made it 2-1 at 13:27 of the second period with a one-timer from left hashmarks on a power play, but the Sabers extended their lead early in the third.
Olofsson completed a 2-on-1 by timing a cross pass from Casey Mittelstadt to make it 3-1 at 1:54. The goal came 26 seconds after the Sabers striker Vinnie Hinostroza hit both posts on a wrist shot from the slot, which was called a goal before a video review showed the puck did not cross the goal line.
“It was nice to get that quick goal straight away and kill the momentum for them,” Olofsson said. “We took over after that.”
Video: BUF@VAN: Olofsson scores in 3rd period
Gurgensons fired into an empty net at 16:31 to make it 4-1, and Olofsson beat a sprawling Demko on a cross pass from Dahlin at 17:21 for the final 5-1.
“His talent is taking over,” Olofsson said of Dahlin. “The last goal was a disgusting play on his part, and he takes it to another level this year.”
Vancouver, which had given up a lead in its first five games, was outscored 13-1 in the third period this season.
“Pretty frustrating”, advance JT Miller said. “We left [Demko] dry there in the last 10 minutes. We had a chance to win before the third. Until the third period, I thought we were playing a pretty good game. To go out and play a third like that given our situation was hard to swallow.”
REMARKS: Buffalo Defender Mattias Samuelsonwho was playing on top pair with Dahlin, left with 2:57 left in the second period after falling awkwardly in the corner controlling the Canucks forward Curtis Lazar. Samuelsson grabbed his right knee as he lay on the ice before being helped and hobbling towards the locker room, but Buffalo coach Don Granato said the first word was positive. “We obviously won’t know more until tomorrow, but I was holding my breath like everyone else and wondering what kind of news you’re going to get, so much happier after learning where it is,” Granato said. …Vancouver’s top defenseman, Quinn Hughes, was a late scratch and is day to day with a lower body injury. … Canucks defenseman Jack Rathbone was minus-3 in 17:55 in his season debut. … Mittelstadt had two assists in his 200th NHL game. … Sabers defender Ilya Lyubushkin had three hits and blocked three shots in 20:37 after missing a game with an undisclosed injury. …Vancouver defenseman Noah Juulsen played 11:18 after being recalled from Abbotsford of the American Hockey League on Saturday.
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